Friday, November 17, 2006

Warrantless Eavesdropping Returns to Court Today

AT&T, the U.S. government and the Electronic Frontier Foundation face off again in federal court this morning to argue over how the case against the telecom for allegedly collaborating with the NSA's warrantless wiretapping of Americans' overseas communications will proceed and to figure out how to integrate some 40 other lawsuits against other telecoms.

Currently a ruling by chief district court judge Judge Vaughn Walker that allows the case to proceed despite the government's protestations that the case will reveal state secrets is under appeal to the Ninth Circuit. Despite that, EFF wants its, and the other cases to proceed, by allowing it to force AT&T to answer its complaints and turn over documents.